2017 was a busy year for the Celtic Graves Society. It’s only by looking back over the year you only then realise how busy we were.In February we paid our respects, in what was a fantastic ceremony, to the goalkeeper of our very first Scottish Cup winning goalkeeper Joseph Cullen in St Kentigerns in Lambhill. We would like to thank Tony Hamilton of the Celtic FC Foundation and Lisbon Lions John Fallon and Charlie Gallagher for coming along to support us on this day.

From this ceremony and into April, we had the pleasure of visiting the wonderful city of Prague, Czech Republic to pay our respects to the “Father of Czech Football”, John William Madden. This was a fantastic trip where we were joined by the family of Johnny Madden from Belfast for the commemoration. The commemoration was organised by Odbor Pratel, “The Friends of Slavia” and it was outstanding. The weather we had over this weekend in Prague was better than the weather we had all year in Scotland. We thank everyone who travelled to Prague, and everyone who made us feel at home in such a wonderful city. The following week we completed the 1892 Scottish Cup winning team project by commemorating the Captain, James Kelly in St Patricks, New Stevenston. For the commemoration we had along the Celtic legend and previous Captain of Celtic in Danny McGrain. The family of former Celtic Captain Duncan Mackay travelled all the way from Australia to represent Duncan. This was another special moment for the Celtic Graves Society. It was an honour for us that the Mackay family should travel “home” to represent Duncan. We thank you. The brilliant Terry Dick made another of his fantastic speeches and we were supported by Peter Lawwell of Celtic FC. We would especially like to thank the Kelly family who allowed us to commemorate our very first Captain. They were brilliant to work with and their turn out helped to make it a wonderful day.

In May, we made our first visit to the beautiful cemetery of St Conval’s in Barrhead to commemorate Joseph Cullen. In another fantastic ceremony we were joined by members of the local Celtic Supporters clubs who we would like to thank, and also two fantastic Celtic authors in Paul John Dykes and Stephen Murray. The blessing of the grave was conducted by Father Brady of St John the Evangelist of Barrhead. We would like to thank the Dodds family for their support with the commemoration. The memorabilia they brought along was fantastic. When this happens, its an unexpected highlight to our commemorations. Thank you.

As the weather got better in June and we had some very un-CGS weather as we visited the “Ayrshire Riviera” for James “Dun” Hay, captain during the very first 6-in-a-row team. Usually for the Celtic Graves Society we need umbrellas, but on this day, it was parasols and sun cream. Paul Cuddihy of the Celtic View joined us and made a wonderful speech. The family of Jimmy “Dun” Hay had travelled from far and wide for this commemoration. His Grandson Roy Hay had come all the way from Australia. The pride shown from the family for their Grandfather was clear to see. We would like to thank the Hay family for their assistance and gifts.

As the new season unfolded we started work on new projects for the season. While the weather was still in our favour, we decided to open this season with a walking tour of St Peters (Dalbeth) cemetery. We had conducted a tour of St Peters previously and it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. So much so we had several requests over the years to do another one. In an informal walking tour, we had many different speakers who spoke with passion and knowledge about the Celts who are at rest in St Peters. The turnout on the day was approximately 70 people and the feedback from the tour was excellent, and we hope to provide another tour in 2018.We ended the year as we started with a visit to St Kentigerns in Lambhill. Lying at rest only yards away from Joseph Cullen, who was the first commemoration of 2017, is the first ever Donegal Celt Alec Collins. Joining us for the ceremony was Marist Brother Allan and the Celtic and Ireland hero Packie Bonner. Packie spoke wonderfully on this day and was a very popular guest. The Collins family had also made long trips to Glasgow for the ceremony and they were also a pleasure to work with. We would like to thank the Collins family for their assistance and gifts. It was also great to see some of the family heirlooms that they have in their collection.

There are too many people to thank who assist who help the Celtic Graves Society out over the course of the year. The main people we would like to thank are the families of the Celts who we commemorate. Without their blessing, we cannot complete what we do. It means a lot to us that our work is recognised and given such importance that people travel halfway around the world to join us. We congratulate you on having a Celt as one of your forefathers, and we thank you for your assistance and generosity.To our speakers in 2017, Lisbon Lions John Fallon, Charlie Gallagher and our Patron and Lisbon Lion Jim Craig, Celtic legend Danny McGrain, Peter Lawwell of Celtic FC, Tony Hamilton of the Celtic FC Foundation, Fr Tom White of St Mary of the Assumption, Fr Brady of St Johns Barrhead, Odbor Pratel, Area 114 in Prague, Terry Dick, Paul Cuddihy of the Celtic View, Paul John Dykes, Stephen Murray, Brother Allan and Packie BonnerWe would like to thank all our Celtic Graves Society members of which we are proud to say we now have several based overseas. We hope you can wear your membership badge with pride as without this support, the Celtic Graves Society cannot do the projects.

To the guys who record, video and photograph our commemorations. Krys, John and Anthony. We thank you, but more importantly those who follow in our footsteps will appreciate it more. Thank you.

To Danny Rooney of Rooney Memorials. Danny, your skills are much appreciated. Thank you for your hard work.

To Ritchie at Kinghorn Creative. He is the artist behind our booklet covers, fliers and business cards. We hope you agree that he is a skilled artist. Thank you, Ritchie.

To our friends at The Celtic Wiki. We thank you for your hard work in researching and building such a massive resource for all the Celtic fans of the future. We would ask all of you to join in with this project. Its an outstanding piece of work. Keep up the great work.

Finally, and by no means least we would like to thank the Celtic Supporters who came along to each of our ceremonies and the walking tour, including the Celts based in Prague. Your encouragement is the fuel behind our work.We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and here’s to another Champion year in 2018!

We hope you will join us in 2018 as we commemorate some more Celts who made our football club the great institution that it is today.